The far-right Israeli minister taunting detained Gaza activists – The Latest

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0:46Robert bullets were used against them during the interception. Tasers were used. They were held in stress positions. Free Palestine!

0:56The video is shocking in and of itself, but it's also what it says about the Israeli political spectrum at the moment. Why is Israel so afraid of these small boats? What's interesting is that Ben Gavir is not concerned about what the rest of the world would think about this. The far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gavir has sparked diplomatic outrage after sharing footage of security forces abusing detained flotilla activists who were trying to deliver aid into Gaza. from the Guardians today in Focus. This is The Latest with me, Lucy Hopp. Joining me from Jerusalem is our Chief Middle East Correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison.

1:35Emma, thank you so much for joining us. We're speaking in the wake of the release of this video by National Security Minister of Israel, Itamar Ben-Gavir, of the detention of a number of international activists who were travelling or attempting to travel to Gaza on a massive flotilla that were taken onto Israeli shores. and are very publicly submitted to this terrible treatment. It is a horrifying watch. What can we see in the video about the treatment of these detainees? So it opens with an activist who's shouting free, free Palestine, being sort of forced down by Israeli security forces. Then it's a sort of series of clips.

2:18We see dozens of activists who are kneeling with their hands bound behind their back with zip ties and their foreheads to the floor in rows. There's so many of them that they're laid out in rows. Ben Gavir's walking past them. He's smiling. At one point, he waves the Israeli flag and says something like, we are the owners, sort of referring to the land. And he sort of mocks them. He says, you came here as heroes. Look at you now as they're there being humiliated on camera. So it continues in that vein. And then at the end, there's footage of Ben Gavir shouting very sort of into the face of another man who has his hands bound.

2:55He's not bent over, he's sitting up, but he's shouts at him, Am Israel Chai, which means the people of Israel live. I mean, it is an unbelievably incendiary thing to release, presumably by design to appeal domestically to Ben Gover's far-right audience, which we'll come to. But there has been huge international condemnation of this, given that the flotilla was carrying people of 40 different nationalities. So there's been condemnation from almost all of the governments with nationals on board, including the UK, Italy, New Zealand. Do you think Ben-Gavir was expecting this level of international condemnation?

3:32So, you know, you rightly said he's sort of doing it to appeal to his own base. And I think that's one of the things that's shocking. The video is shocking in and of itself, but it's also what it says about the Israeli political spectrum at the moment, that, you know, a prominent politician is releasing something that's provoked pretty universal outrage among countries who number some of Israel's very staunch allies. In Europe, we had Germany. And in America, we had the American ambassador, Huckabee, who's been really close to Israel. And yet in the domestic Israeli political context, Ben Gavir sees this video, this mistreatment, as an advantage.

4:16And, you know, after he was criticised publicly by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister of Israel, he doubled down on his video. And in response to a post on X by the Foreign Minister, he sort of quote tweeted him and said something like, the Foreign Minister should realise that Israel is not going to be pushed around anymore. That's a paraphrase, but something completely defiant. Absolutely. He didn't even just leave it there. He sort of came back at his domestic critics. And what was the criticism of Netanyahu? Is it unusual for Netanyahu to put out a statement, the Israeli prime minister criticising a member of his own cabinet, because there is obviously this far right section of his cabinet that includes Ben Gavir.

4:53It's a coalition government. So by its very nature, all Israel's governments, since it was founded, have been coalition governments. You're going to be making a political pact with parties who see things differently from you. So there's an aspect of navigating that. Netanyahu's said nothing about previous behaviour by Ben Gavir, which has drawn international condemnation, not on this scale, but you know, he's got a record of making videos like this humiliating and mocking Palestinian detainees while they're being abused. But you know, for him to come out with this very public statement, and so rapidly, yes, that is unusual, and I think reflects the scale of international disgust and opprobrium at this video.

5:35One of the things that Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, was calling for was that the detainees be sent back to their home countries. It sounds like that is now happening and that people have been released and are being sent home. But what do we know about the circumstances of the way, the conditions in which they've been held in the last few days? There's over 400 of them. They left Turkey a week ago in these boats. They sailed towards Israel. They were intercepted in international waters, which had already drawn condemnation. South Korea had already questioned the legality of this decision to intercept them in international waters, they were then brought to Israel.

6:11They were always going to be deported, but Netanyahu's call for them to be deported wasn't in itself a new thing. He was basically saying they need to be taken out of Israeli custody as a way to end this mistreatment. And, you know, that video, outrageous as it was, was followed up by perhaps even more disturbing reports from lawyers who'd been to visit the Tetainees. They said they had not been able to speak to all of them because of severe restrictions on access, but they did speak to hundreds of them. They said that three had been hospitalised because of extreme violence. They were subsequently released from hospital.

6:47And they said dozens of people were reporting injuries that they believed to be broken ribs, which were causing breathing difficulties. They did not have doctors with them. These were just the lawyers. But they also reported a range of violence. Rubber bullets were used against them during the interception. Tasers were used. They were held in stress positions. And they also reported sexual humiliation. And some of the women said that they'd had their hijabs ripped off by Israeli security forces. And the legal centre, the NGO whose lawyers are representing them at Dala, said that this represented a new pattern of abuse against international activists.

7:27Not new in terms of what Palestinians have been subjected to in Israeli prisons and detention centres, but new in that level of violence and mistreatment of foreigners arrested on these flotillas, because there have been several of them. Yeah, because I was going to say, Emma, this isn't the first flotilla, is it, that we've known about? Perhaps the most high profile one was the one on which Greta Thunberg, the activist, was travelling amongst a number of other international activists. this. They are always intercepted by Israeli forces. But the reason those flotillas are travelling is to attempt to deliver aid to Gaza, where the situation remains extremely dire in the seven months since the so-called ceasefire.

8:08There's an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe. There's nominally a ceasefire in place. That came into force in October. Hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli attacks since then. Hunger is still widespread. There are high levels of malnutrition, there's shortages of medical supplies. There's a really serious lack of access to clean water and sanitation, which exacerbates all the other problems. Doctors describe a revolving door of people coming to hospitals with intestinal problems. They're cured, discharged, go back to places where they can't find clean water and are back again. Everything that you could possibly need, food, water, medicines, is in short supply.

8:44So really, the situation is horrific. And I think It's worth, you know, when you consider these flotillas, of course, the amount of aid that they're going to take in or attempting to take in would be symbolic when you look at the scale of the needs in Gaza, where there's over two million people. But as a form of activism and protest to remind the world that Gaza is cut off, that its people are still suffering an extreme level of deprivation, it's actually very effective. And, you know, there was a really interesting article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz this morning saying, why is Israel so afraid of these small boats?

9:23And this article made the point that the Israeli government isn't afraid of large amounts of aid reaching Gaza. There's not even large amounts of aid on the ship. What they're concerned about really is that these activists draw the attention of the world back to a humanitarian catastrophe that they would be happy to see slide out of the headlines and, you know, perhaps many of their allies as well. I mean, that is horrifying, Emma. And it sounds like from what you're saying, it is something that the Israeli government want to keep out of the headlines at a time when the world is looking elsewhere.

9:58but who is Ben Gavir speaking to here? Is this a domestic audience? Because there are elections coming up in Israel aren't there later this year? Sounds like, as per your reporting, there are elections that are being brought forward but is this about provoking a reaction amongst his far-right base and is this something that they would support and agree with? That is one of the very disturbing things about this video that what has horrified people around the world will be received with enthusiasm by some of the voters who Ben Gavir is trying to appeal to, or at least that's his view of it. You know, he's made celebrating the abuse and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners, often on camera, a sort of trademark.

10:44He goes to prisons and then, you know, these videos have come out, not always released by him. He's reopened, for instance, an underground prison where prisoners never see daylight. Starvation is widespread. And, you know, this is happening in a culture of sort of widespread dehumanisation of Palestinians. And what's shocked some people is not the abuse or the mistreatment, because much more serious abuse is now systemic in Israeli prisons, which the rights group at Salem says should now be considered torture camps, Israeli prisons and detention centres. What's interesting is that Ben Gavir is not concerned about what the rest of the world would think about this and not concerned about targeting foreign citizens who have, in many cases, quite powerful governments who are now trying to stand up for their rights behind them.

11:31It's almost like they've been dehumanised by association with this broader dehumanisation of Palestinians. Extremely disturbing, Emma. Thank you so much. Thank you, Lucy. That's it for today. My huge thanks again to Emma Graham Harrison, our Chief Middle East Correspondent. You can keep up with all of her reporting over at theguardian.com. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Latest. Today in Focus will be back in your feeds as usual tomorrow morning. The Latest will be back tomorrow night. This episode was presented by me, Lucy Hoff. It was produced by Bryony Moore and the senior producer was Ryan Ramgobin.

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